Quarter 3 2018

June 16, 2020 in Newsletters

UFTI T2 Center: Creating New Engineering Courses and Programs

Welcome to the August edition of the UFTI T2 Center Newsletter. As always, feel free to call (352.273.1670) or email (t2assist@ce.ufl.edu) with any ideas, questions, or concerns. Thanks for reading!

In this newsletter:

Director’s Message

Our Center continues to provide training courses and technical assistance to local agencies on Maintenance of Traffic (including Basic, Intermediate, Advanced and Refreshers); Pilot/Escort and Flagging; Rural County Safety; and OSHA Roadway Construction. The number of Engineering Webinars has grown to nearly twenty, presented by experts around the country. 

Upcoming Courses and Training

If you don’t see a class that fits your needs and have a group of interested students, please contact Jasper Masciocchi at j.masciocchi@ufl.edu or (352) 273-1685 to discuss the opportunity to bring a class to your location.  T2 has a pool of qualified, experienced, professional instructors capable of traveling to your location.

Center News

UFTI’s T2 Center receives Grant to House the Transportation Safety Center

University of Florida Transportation Institute’s T2 Center is proud to house the Transportation Safety Center (TSC). TSC’s Year 1 goals include working with Jackson and Columbia Counties to provide a comprehensive Local Road Safety Plan following the FHWA guidelines. The TSC program’s Year 2 goals include working with three additional counties. Levy County has confirmed participation in the program. The two open positions will be filled by counties with limited technical staff and a population less than 50,000. Please contact the TSC Program Manager, Dr. Nithin Agarwal at nithin.agarwal@ufl.edu or 352-273-1674, if your county is eligible and interested in participating in the program.

Transportation Safety Center to Present at Safe Systems Summit

The Transportation Safety Center (TSC) housed in the T2 Center at the University of Florida (UF) was established with funding from The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) to provide technical support to small and rural counties to identify and develop safety projects on local roads. TSC will present a poster at Safe Systems Summit: Redefining Transportation Safety, Durham, NC. The poster is on the past TSC efforts, focusing on customizing the FHWA systemic safety process for Florida using the data available from small counties in Florida. The PIs on this study included Siva Srinivasan, Ph.D., Nithin Agarwal, Ph.D., Ilir Bejleri, Ph.D., and John Goodknight, Ph.D. and will be presented by Roozbeh Rahmani, Ph.D. As part of this effort, two automated GIS tools including curve identification tool and intersection location tool were developed. In addition, statistical crash prediction models were developed including the following variables: volumes on local roadways, distance from curves to intersections on any approach and distance between curves. These models along with the GIS tools were utilized to screen high-risk locations. The TSC has implemented and tested these novel tools and prediction models to enhance the safety on rural roads in Florida. This study paved a way to develop the pilot Local Road Safety Plan in Florida that adopts both hot spot as well as systemic approach to quantify risks on roadways. This methodology was validated in the pilot study with Gadsden county and will be used as a model for other counties in Florida. 

Florida Occupant Protection Resource Center (OPRC) – August 2018 Update

New print items will be available in the OPRC store in September. This includes bookmarks, activity books, posters, and more. Scholarships are available for CPS certification and recertification fees, and stipends are available to teach CPS technician certification courses. Visit the Florida OPRC website regularly for updates and other items.

Florida’s Pedestrian and Bicycling Safety Resource Center (SRC)

The SRC is currently out of helmets, they will be re-stocked in October. It’s time for back-to-school and children are traveling by foot, by bike, by bus, and cars. Be sure to educate your children on the safety rules for going to-and-from school. As always, SRC staff are available to assist state safety advocates at events. If you have a safety event that you would like PedBike SRC to support please contact us with your request at pedbikesrc@ce.ufl.edu.

Other Opportunities

Searching for Instructors

T2 Center is searching for qualified instructors to teach transportation professionals in areas of: Workzone setup, Pavement Preservation, CTQP, Heavy Equipment Safety and Operation. Send resume and explanation of experience to: T2CTTassist@ce.ufl.edu for consideration.

Center Resources

Searching for Safety or Technical Training?

T2 can work with you to meet your training needs.  Whether it is heavy equipment, project management, Traffic Engineering Fundamentals, or countless other topics, T2 is positioned to help bring the trainings of interest to your location. 

We can also provide an array of webinars geared to provide you with the most relevant information without the need to travel.  Let us know your areas of interest and we can work with our experts to provide trainings either as instructor led or webinar formats.

Many of our courses are approved for Professional Engineer (PE) credits.

Contact Jasper Masciocchi at j.masciocchi@ufl.edu or 352.273.1685 to discuss your training needs.